Blog entry 1.2 "Zombies"

The creature i chose to research was the zombie also known as the undead (both of which have different meanings and can apply to other creatures, but i'll get into that later).

The one and "ONLY" website i used (mainly because it was so helpful)was www.monstrous.com it's a good site to search for any monster it has everything i think anyone would need to know about whatever creature they wish to learn of origin, weakness,anatomy, etc.



Now when it comes to zombies my interest is more than just an interest...it's a freaking love affair!. Despite the fact that these are simplistic creatures with simplistic needs i'm fascinated at the amount of chaos they cause, but without getting too into my love for them let me hit you with the facts. As mentioned above there is a difference between a zombie, and an undead being. A zombie is a dead person that was brought back to life by a curse, virus, or necromancer (a sorcerer or wizard of some sort that controls the dead). An undead being is one that is dead but behaves as if it's alive(such as ghost's and vampires).

The origin of the zombie goes back to the middle ages. In the encyclopedia of "things that never were", Revenants (someone who has returned from the dead) would arise and take the form of a corpse or skeletal human figure to avenge a crime commited against it, most of which would result in a murder of some sort.

Modern zombies are usually created by a mysterious virus. which turns the living into a cannibalistic being (important fact: zombies don't eat each other they can differentiate the smell of human flesh in comparison to their own smell which is often unpleasant). The virus spreads by the bites they inflict on their victims, once a person is bitten its only a matter of time before they are a zombie as well. Since Zombies are dead beings they don't have the brain capacity to talk they just think on a basic level and react with basic instincts, but it is believed that they communicate with each other through moaning.

Also Since zombies feel no pain they can push their bodies beyond the normal human limit, examples include being able to withstand more than the normal amount of damage a human can such as dismemberment (important fact: you can only kill a zombie by causing massive trauma to the head/destroying the brain, or burning it completly), if its a running zombie you'd better be in shape because chances are it can run forever. That being said zombies can't live forever since their bodies are decaying eventually after many months or years it will breakdown to a point where it cannot function.

Now there isn't much i dont know about zombies, so i can't say i learned anything new but i still love them and i'm going to briefly share the things i love about them, (which are also some facts worth noting).

(Now on to what i love about them)


Compared to other creatures found in the fantasy world zombies hold no special powers, despite the fact that they are undead and can only be killed by destroying the brain or being burned they hold the same amount of strength as a normal human being. So If you think about it they are fairly weak (by comparison i mean), But it doesn't mean they should be underestimated in fact it's that reason alone that many people in zombie stories get killed, (and one of the reasons i love them) because what they lack in strength they certainly make up for in numbers, and there's always some gun toting idiot who tries to go all rambo and what not until he's overwhelmed and eventually torn to shreds (quite an entertaining thing to see by the way).

Another point to bring to the table would be the way they affect people. More often than not in any zombie story rarely are the zombies the real threat (in fact they're just the circumstance). The real threat are the survivors. Humans are violent by nature but a catastrophic situation such as this always seems to bring out the worst in people. (As portrayed in the movies) there's a thin line between sanity and insanity, people get violent towards one another, become heartless, selfish, confused, and make decisions based out of fear which usually has negative effects on those around them. So there's a sort of psychological aspect when it comes to zombies which is kind of their subconscious strategy to conquer and affect people which is pretty cool.